Can Google Expand The Podcast Market by 450%?

This past week was a big one for the Podcast community as Google announced it will be launching its own portal for podcasters. The new podcast platform will be available in Google Play Music, and will recommend podcasts to the listeners based on their “mood or interest – something to make them laugh, get lost in a story or learn something new”?, according to Google.

But the opportunity I see is for content producers to dramatically expand their potential audience and brand exposure. According to Forbes, data shows the number of iOS devices to be shipped from 2015 to 2019 will increase from 237 million to 274.5 million, with a market share of 14.2%. But the Android based market share will reach 1.53 in the same period with a market share of around 79%.

According to Pew Research, already in 2015 over 33% of all Americans have listened to a podcast. Here’s a graph showing the growth in listeners:

Doing the math, which is arguably “fuzzy” at best… I’m wondering if Google’s move into podcasting can expand the potential listener by 450%, based on the increase of total device exposure when comparing iOS vs. Android market shares.

Whether or not 450% is the accurate number, I see the Google podcast platform as a great opportunity for podcasters to grow their listening audience, and grow their brands. Of course, as it is with any content marketing efforts, just like with business blogging, the content needs to “add value” to your audience, and the production of your content needs to be frequent and consistent. But for the podcast producers who are already growing their audience on iOS (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc…), I see the Google podcast platform expanding the listening audience exponentially.